


safety net

by a_good_soldier



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, s02e09
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 15:32:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5253584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_good_soldier/pseuds/a_good_soldier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-midseason finale. Connor can't deal, and neither can Michaela, but she's slightly better at faking it. Oliver's mostly just confused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	safety net

**Author's Note:**

> MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE MID-SEASON FINALE FRIENDOS. also, warning for ableist language (e.g. crazy, insane, etc.).

“Oh _god_ ,” Connor says, his voice cracking in the middle. Michaela lowers herself gently down next to him, shivering in the quiet coolness just below the chaos upstairs. They haven’t heard a gunshot yet. It’s okay, for now. 

She closes her eyes, and tries not to remember Annalise’s tears as she begged her students, one by one, to _shoot her_ , what the _fuck_ , and Sinclair’s dead body only ten feet behind them-

“She really thought I’d do it,” Connor gasps. His hands are shaking, but so are Michaela’s, so she doesn’t move to stop him. “ _I_ really thought I’d do it.”

“That wasn’t you,” Michaela says, trying to sound certain despite the quiver in her voice, thinking of Asher’s face as he described the bone-crack of Sinclair’s first death, and the wet splatter of her second. It’s insane. Annalise is insane.

“Oliver would be better off without me, wouldn’t he?”

“ _No_ , what? Connor-”

“Did you hear what she said?” Connor’s shaking his head, running his fingers through his hair absentmindedly, barely aware of his body’s motions. “A face like that, the friends he’d make in prison, and come on, you know he’s not going there without me-”

“ _Stop_.” Michaela forces herself to be still, and places her hand on Connor’s knee. “You’re gonna be okay, and so will Oliver. This’ll all be over soon.” She wills herself to believe it.

Connor draws in a breath to speak, and flinches as a gunshot rings out in the courtyard. Michaela slips off the stone ledge to look around, and sees Wes and Laurel stumbling out of the mansion. Wes still has the gun in his hand.

Connor still hasn’t turned around. “Come on,” Michaela coaxes him, pulling him off the ledge and into the harsh lamplight, “let’s go.”

\--

“You guys okay?” Oliver asks, putting a cup of tea in front of Michaela. He’d asked Connor if he wanted one, and in response, Connor poured himself half a mug of vodka and downed it in two gulps. It’s four in the morning. “Wait, shit, sorry, that’s so stupid, obviously- what I mean is, are you- I guess, uh-”

“It’s fine,” Michaela says, cupping the mug in her hands. “Thanks, Oliver.”

“No problem.” He smiles, the nervous one he gets when he feels like he’s not doing enough, like he isn’t enough, and sits down on the far side of the couch. Connor’s in the middle, pretending he isn’t fucked out of his mind, but Oliver and Michaela can smell the alcohol on his breath and see his shoulders shaking.

Oliver puts a blanket over Connor’s shoulders; he offers one to Michaela, but she waves him off, holding up her tea. At least she seems to be coping, mostly.

They look at the Netflix home screen for a couple of minutes before a promo for some prison break show slides onto the screen and Connor says, quietly at first, “Turn it off, turn it off,” and then, louder, “turn it _off_ , Jesus Christ!”

Michaela scrabbles for the power button and the screen goes dark.

Oliver slowly rubs his thumb over the top of Connor’s hand. “Do you guys wanna tell me what happened?” He waits for a couple of seconds, but neither of them look like they’re about to talk, so he says, “That’s fine, you don’t have to, it was just in case you wanted to talk about it. The guest room’s set up, if you want to sleep there, Michaela, or I can drive you home, or we can just sit here for a bit longer, if you want.”

“She keeps doing this to us,” Connor whispers. Michaela looks like she understands what the hell he’s talking about, so Oliver mouths _what?_ over his head to her, but before she can respond, Connor continues. “She keeps- why did she do that? Why did she think I’d do it? Why did she _make me like this_ -”

“Because she’s fucking crazy, and this whole situation is fucking _insane_ , and you did everything you could.” Michaela slips her hand into Connor’s other one. “Annalise tried to,” she starts, talking to Oliver mostly, but also to herself, trying to make sense of it, “well, it’s a long story, but... she tried to make us shoot her.”

There’s a silence for a second, and then Oliver says, “What the _fuck_?”

“No, wait, it’s not, _Michaela_ , why did you _tell_ him? You can’t involve him, this is how _bad things_ happen!” Connor slurs, and he’s standing up now, his chipped vodka mug rattling on the table and the blanket slumped on the couch behind him, shaped like a person, like a corpse.

“Oliver’s safe, Connor! He’s right there!”

Oliver’s also not entirely sure what’s going on, but danger to him seems to be a recurring theme, so he stands up too and gathers Connor in his arms. “Hey, c’mon,” he says as Connor gasps for air and bleeds tears onto his shoulder, “I’m right here, I’m safe.”

They stand like that for a minute or so, just long enough for Connor’s tears to subside into mostly-presentable wet gulps. Michaela stands up too. Her tea is untouched. “I think I’m going to take you up on that room offer, if you don’t mind.” Her hand is warm on Connor’s back between his shoulderblades, and she trades grateful smiles with Oliver as she keeps Connor from flying apart while Oliver steps away to make up the guest room.

“I’m sorry,” Connor says, his voice returning to something that could almost pass for sobriety, “I’m such a mess, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Michaela responds, dreading her own breakdown looming in the days to come. She’s too numb to start crying now, and besides, Oliver surely can’t take care of two non-functioning murderers in one night. That’s too much. It’s all too much for one night.

\--

Connor and Michaela both have dark shadows under their eyes the next morning. It’s 9 am, but neither of them are going in to work or school, and Oliver’s already called in sick even though Connor told him not to. He flips an omelette in the frying pan while Connor hugs him from behind, resting his head on Oliver’s shoulder. Michaela’s checking her phone and doesn’t seem too offput by the obvious display of affection, so Oliver smiles and lets himself enjoy it.

“I love you, Ollie,” Connor mumbles into Oliver’s neck.

Oliver risks turning away from the stove to press a quick kiss to Connor’s mouth, and then his cheek. “I love you too.”

Connor hums into Oliver’s shoulder, nestling closer. “Sorry about last night, babe.”

Oliver flips the omelette onto a plate, and turns around fully to hold Connor’s hands. “No need to apologize. I just want you to feel safe.” He turns over to Michaela, who’s studying her phone with what seems like unusual intensity, even for one of the Keating Five. “You too, missy! I like you.”

“I like you too, _Ollie_ ,” she teases, putting her phone away. “But actually. Thank you.”

“No problem,” Oliver replies, cutting up the giant omelette into three, and laying one of the pieces on top of a pile of rice. He hands it to Michaela, blatantly ignoring Connor’s grabby hands. “Um, _hello_ ,” Connor says, “boyfriend here?”

Oliver smiles, and places the plate in front of Michaela. “Um, hello, _guest_ here?”

“Okay,” Connor pouts, plopping down into the seat next to Michaela. “I’ll let it go, just this once.”

Oliver laughs with Michaela, and even Connor breaks out into a smile. Oliver still doesn’t really know what happened last night, and Michaela still checks her phone with fear in her eyes, but at least for now, they’re safe.

**Author's Note:**

> was considering continuing this, but am not 100% sure about where to go! i did want to have more of oliver & connor talking about what annalise & the effect that had on connor, plus more of michaela dealing in her own way rather than just trying to figure out how to keep connor calm, but hey!! i am not that great of a writer and i needed to get this out of the way so i can think about something else!!!!!! anyway, hope u enjoyed <3


End file.
